


rare is this love; keep it covered

by BrunetteAuthorette99



Series: Kastle Week Drabbles [1]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: (I'm throwing all the Kastle tropes in here and NO ONE CAN STOP ME), Angst, Drabble Sequence, F/M, Frank slowly moves into Karen's apartment, Gen, Hozier in the Kastle Week, Karen patches Frank up, Karen tells Frank about Wesley, Matt disapproves of Frank, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-16
Updated: 2016-11-16
Packaged: 2018-08-30 20:38:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8548348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrunetteAuthorette99/pseuds/BrunetteAuthorette99
Summary: Frank drags himself to Karen's door after a rough night. For reasons that neither of them understand yet, she lets him in.Seven loosely connected Kastle drabbles inspired by seven Hozier songs for goddammitkastle's Hozier in the Kastle Week.





	1. i woke with her walls around me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **[#HozierInTheKastle](http://goddamnitkastle.tumblr.com/post/152706168873/hozierinthekastle-faq), Day 1:** ["Work Song"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH7bjV0Q_44)

Frank wakes on a couch that has too few lumps and doesn't smell moldy enough to be his. It's draped in towels that were once yellow, but are now stained a muddy peach.

Something cool and damp presses against his forehead. Under his eyelids, he glimpses Karen wiping crusted blood from his face and chest. The blonde hair veiling her face makes her look saintlike.

_Now_ he remembers limping out of the alley and pounding on a door with his busted fist before collapsing on the threshold.

He tries not to think about if he knew it was _her_ door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [On Tumblr](http://brunetteauthorette99.tumblr.com/post/153246323947/i-woke-with-her-walls-around-me)


	2. a kindness you can't afford

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **[#HozierInTheKastle](http://goddamnitkastle.tumblr.com/post/152706168873/hozierinthekastle-faq), Day 2:** ["It Will Come Back"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgWOJIC6Kp8)

Karen keeps a map of vigilante activity in New York on Ben’s investigation board. She’d started it to keep tabs on Matt’s — no,  _Daredevil’s_ activities, but now it’s tracking Jones, Cage, Rand: everyone.

She can’t help but see their  _modi operandi_ in the police reports on her desk. Broken bones for Daredevil. Body bags for the Punisher — no,  _Frank,_ but she doesn’t write that on the board; there’s already plenty of talk around the  _Bulletin_ about her “obsession.”

Her stomach’s getting less queasy at his crime scenes. It's hard to fear someone who you don’t mind crashing on your couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [On Tumblr](http://brunetteauthorette99.tumblr.com/post/153289355782/a-kindness-you-cant-afford)


	3. rope in hand for your other man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **[#HozierInTheKastle](http://goddamnitkastle.tumblr.com/post/152706168873/hozierinthekastle-faq), Day 3:** ["From Eden"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI0wUoCLnLk)

Frank’s not sure how Red found out who else lived in his new safe house. But there they are, grappling on a rooftop like old times, when he demands through gritted teeth, _You should stay away from her._

Frank chuckles, his mouth full of blood. _Oh, she’s fine without me, Red. Even better without you._ _(That_ gets him another punch, but his bruised gut is worth the perverse satisfaction he gets from riling up Red.)

He wants to believe that _he’ll_ be fine without _her_. But he doesn’t want to believe in anything beyond the skull on his bulletproof vest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [On Tumblr](http://brunetteauthorette99.tumblr.com/post/153331331312/rope-in-hand-for-your-other-man)


	4. the ashes in my wake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **[#HozierInTheKastle](http://goddamnitkastle.tumblr.com/post/152706168873/hozierinthekastle-faq), Day 4:** ["Arsonist's Lullabye"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoQvbDROucQ)

There’s a nightmare Frank has where Karen is standing in his house, the way it looked before he doused his old life in gasoline and dropped the match. _Frank,_ she says, voice trembling with an emotion he doesn’t know, _don’t do this._

Some nights, he can’t even light the match. Other nights, he turns away as she bursts into flames like a martyr at the stake, screaming his name.

He jolts awake on her couch: shaking, in a cold sweat. In her bedroom, Karen sleeps on, and he listens to her slow, steady breathing before fire and gunpowder consume him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [On Tumblr](http://brunetteauthorette99.tumblr.com/post/153371309892/the-ashes-in-my-wake)


	5. command me to be well

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **[#HozierInTheKastle](http://goddamnitkastle.tumblr.com/post/152706168873/hozierinthekastle-faq), Day 5:** ["Take Me to Church"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVjiKRfKpPI)

Karen doesn’t mean, or want, to tell him. But Frank has a Taurus PT92 in one of his duffel bags of weaponry, and despite him cleaning it, she can see the shimmer of hers and Wesley’s fingerprints on the grip, and her heart shoots straight into her throat.

A good quality of Frank’s: he stays quiet until she’s made her choked confession. His hand, broad and warm, settles on her shuddering back and rubs her seizing muscles.

 _Hey_ _,_ he says, his voice rough, but soothing. _You did what you had to._

She finally cries. This time, it’s out of relief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [On Tumblr](http://brunetteauthorette99.tumblr.com/post/153413690232/command-me-to-be-well)


	6. she'll know me crazy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **[#HozierInTheKastle](http://goddamnitkastle.tumblr.com/post/152706168873/hozierinthekastle-faq), Day 6:** ["Jackie and Wilson"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSWqxbswQAY)

Frank has an industrial first aid kit under her sink and a drawer with unbloodied T-shirts in her dresser. He keeps the ammunition off her coffee table and sleeps on her couch the whole night now. When he can manage it without pulling his stitches (hers are more clumsy than his, but she’s a fast learner), he makes breakfast: scrambled eggs, toast, bacon if she has it.

At the grocery store, Karen picks up coffee for him: strong, responsibly sourced pitch. It gets her a smile — lopsided, but warm, and less rare than they had been — that she unthinkingly returns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [On Tumblr](http://brunetteauthorette99.tumblr.com/post/153460457907/shell-know-me-crazy)


	7. better now having survived

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **[#HozierInTheKastle](http://goddamnitkastle.tumblr.com/post/152706168873/hozierinthekastle-faq), Day 7:** ~~Free Choice~~ ["Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQm5Q2yWKcE)

Karen anticipates and dreads the knocking on her door at 3 AM; it means Frank, but Frank beaten and bloodied. But tonight, she opens the door on a clean-shaven stranger with only a shallow cut on his temple.

 _Ma’am,_ he greets her, and he holds up a bag of Thai take-out.

She stares at him dumbly, a sudden and fierce warmth flooding through her. And then she tugs him in from the hall and kisses him. Or _he_ kisses _her._

But there  _is_ a kiss.

(Frank doesn’t sleep on the couch that night. The Thai is left for the morning.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [On Tumblr](http://brunetteauthorette99.tumblr.com/post/153504017087/better-now-having-survived)
> 
> ... aaand that's a wrap! (For the moment, anyway... there might be more Kastle fics in me yet.) Thanks for reading, and, even as brief as they were, I hope you enjoyed this drabble-story!
> 
> _**BrunetteAuthorette99** _


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